Cathie from Canada

"Do not go gentle into that good night.
Blog, blog against the dying of the light"

Saturday, November 06, 2004

Come to Saskatchewan!

For Americans who are thinking about Canada, here's some useful information and links.
Saskatchewan is my own province (we are next door to Alberta, north of Montana, if you aren't familiar with Canadian geography). We have an Immigrant Nominee program described here - SINP Saskatchewan Immigrant Nominee Program for skilled workers and professionals, health professionals, business people, students, and farm operators. The Canadian immigration website is here where you can get links to other provinces and general information about immigration.
Tooting our own horn, Saskatchewan is a great province, and Saskatoon is a great city. In all, the provincial population is about one million -- we have two main cities of over 200,000 each, Regina and Saskatoon, plus a number of smaller cities like Moose Jaw, Prince Albert, North Battleford, Lloydminster.
Politically, Saskatchewan has been left-of-centre for much of the last 60 years -- the CCF (now NDP) government was first elected here in the 40s, a consortium of farmers and unions who believe, basically, that collective action supports individual initiative. Our CCF government pioneered North America's first Medicare program, in the 60s -- what an inspiring story that is, and a concrete example of how political leaders used to feel that their religious beliefs should support social justice. (Our NDP premier now, Lorne Calvert, is actually an ordained minister, but we don't hold that against him!)
Saskatoon is a beautiful city too -- we have a world-class university with about 20,000 students, including Canada's synchrotron research facility and a broad collection of professional colleges, plus potash mining and various high-tech businesses. Around the province, Regina also has a university of about 15,000 students, and we have various other resource-based industries, like the heavy oil upgrader in Lloydminster.
Come for a visit, at least -- if you liked John Kerry, we think you will like us!